Sparkling Roses with Essie Sew Psyched and Barielle Stardust

 

I asked a friend at work what she would like to see me do as a mani  "Pink with delicate flowers on".  Well, I started out with a pink paint job, but it just didn't suit me that day, if you know what I mean.  So I thought "What else would go with pink roses?" having already decided I wanted to use some of my rose decals from Born Pretty Store, and thought a soft green would go nicely.

I only actually have one soft green, but what a lovely green it is.  Essie Sew Psyched is a gorgeous, dusty sage green crème and always applies perfectly in two coats.  And then, I had one of those random thought of "I wonder what will happen if...." and layered a coat of Barielle Stardust over the top.   I had picked it up with a set of four, ridiculously cheaply at TK Maxx last month, and hadn't tried it yet and there it was, twinkling suggestively away in its bottle, just waiting for me to crack it open.

Stardust is a clear base, packed with small irredescent pieces of glitter, that look for the most part white in the bottle.  Layer over a colour (and it applies wonderfully evenly with loads of glitter in one stroke) and you can see it coming to life with blues, greens and silvers.  A really, really beautiful glitter. 

And then finished off with water decals of pink roses, which I bought last month from Born Pretty Store.  So pretty - I love the one with the little bud on it.  And with the glitter, it made me think of roses in rain or dew.  I love this mani and will be sad to take it off.

Base coat Orly Bonder
2 coats Essie Sew Psyched
1 coat Barielle Stardust
1 coat Seche Vite

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Peacock Feather nails

 

I picked up some silver peacock feather water decals from Hail the Nails ages ago, so decided to try them out today.

The decals are all silver, so wanted a way to bring all the peacocky colours in, so I started with a base of OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue, and sponged on randomly patches of OPI Catch Me In Your Net (a very awesome polish of turquoise glitter) and OPI Goldeneye, much like you would with a galaxy manicure I believe (I haven't tried one yet).

I then added the water decals and put a tiny little bright blue rhinestone in the centre of each feather "eye", which I got from Born Pretty Store.  They could have done with being a bit bigger,  but I only have 1.5mm rhinestones....at the moment.  I fully intend on ordering a rainbow set of 2mm ones soon! 

Finished off with lots of Seche Vite.   Having had a disaster with designs earlier in the week, which I removed without a hint of a camera in a strop, I'm fairly pleased with how these turned out!

 

Zoya Isla

I was persuaded to buy this polish because of the name - my BFF's oldest daughter is called Isla and I love a good red, so how could I not?

It is a deep, shimmery, vibrant, red that glows with an almost black edge to it in certain lights.  It really is very beautiful and applies smoothly.  My only gripe is a personal one - I really don't get on with Zoya brushes.  My fingers looked like they had been in a massacre shortly after applying the polish!

But still, a small price to pay for such a fabulous red.  And it's Isla's first day at school this week, so it reminded me to pull this polish out of the bottom of my polish case, where it certainly doesn't deserve to languish! (Please excuse the unholy mess on my left hand!)

Base Nail Envy Original, two coats, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

Artificial Light

Natural light

Close up artificial light

Sunlight

And then, because I am all about the decals at the moment, I added little gold flowers to each nail, from one of the sets I got from Hail the Nails.

Sunlight

OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? / OPI Pirouette My Whistle

From the OPI NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection Spring 2012.

I decided to go soft, girlie and pretty today, which doesn't happen that often as I tend to like my colours. 

I settled on OPI's You Callin' Me A Lyre from their NYC Ballet Soft Shades Collection from 2012 - I don't have the whole set, but bought this, Barre My Soul (a pinky beige sheer) and Pirouette My Whistle (the glitter overlay) when they came out.

I don't often do sheers, but do make the odd exception.  I find I don't tend to apply them that well (or the formula is difficult) so end up with streak city.  This one however is fairly foolproof - hardly any streaking at all.   I did however put four coats on, to build up to the opacity I wanted.  This is a soft, pink, sheer jelly formula - I trained professionally to be a classical dancer, and this does actually remind me of ballet tights! 

Sunlight

Natural light

I did this last night, and when I looked at them this morning, I decided it needed a bit more (like I said, sheers aren't really my thing and I can be bored of them fairly quickly!) so added one coat of Pirouette My Whistle, also from the NYC Ballet collection - a clear varnish with a suspension of silver microglitter and shimmery white hexagonal glitter.  I love this - they work really well together, and have a pretty feminine look.  I am always happy when the glitter pieces distribute nicely and you don't have to spend ages trying to spread them out on the nail!

And then to finish off, I put a little rose water decal on my ring finger as an accent.  I love this look, considering it is my not so favourite sheers!

Sunlight

Natural light

An InLinkz Link-up

White lily water decals

After yesterday's post of China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le, today I thought I would add some white lilies that I bought recently from Hail the Nails.  This is my first purchase of water decals and I have to say I love them (be warned, you will see a lot of them!).  I have dabbled with stamping (I have a few Konad plates that I really must dust off), and some shaky freehand nail art, but these are just so easy and pretty.

I was really pleased with how this looks - white lilies on China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le.  All pictures taken in sunlight, except for the last one (indoors).